Hardware Test: Xbox 360 Elite

The Xbox 360 Elite is the first hardware revision of Microsoft's multi-million-selling console, a chance for the Xbox team to revisit the classic hardware, add additional high-definition functionality and hopefully address some of the reliability and noise issues.

That being the case, we decided to source an NTSC retail model and put it to the test - the only challenges there being finding an unsold unit, and then having customs and excise sitting on it for a month.

The remit for this hardware test was very straightforward - to put the Elite up to the highest possible scrutiny, to provide accurate quality tests of each of its HD outputs and report on the changes Microsoft has made to the core package, for better or for worse.